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5.0 out of 5 starsVENUS IN THE COUNTRY - Deeply Kinky
Venus in the CountryA Review by M. J. Rennie

Not until the United States Supreme Court invalidated most American censorship laws in the late 1960s did the classics of Victorian era erotica become available to a mass reading public. Before that time, erotic literature was only available abroad, or brought into the U. S. in smuggled editions...

3.0 out of 5 starsVenus in the Country
I have owned this book for years having stolen it from my father's dresser when I was a teenager. It is full of non-stop sexual encounters which seem to focus on the need to educate young maidens in the ways of the world. There is very little character development or plot development but if you are looking for raw sex the this is the book for you. The only truely...

I have owned this book for years having stolen it from my father's dresser when I was a teenager. It is full of non-stop sexual encounters which seem to focus on the need to educate young maidens in the ways of the world. There is very little character development or plot development but if you are looking for raw sex the this is the book for you. The only truely disturbing part is an unusual reliance on incest. It all ends in a well described orgy at a country picnic. I find the fact that it was first published in 1895 to be facinating.

Not until the United States Supreme Court invalidated most American censorship laws in the late 1960s did the classics of Victorian era erotica become available to a mass reading public. Before that time, erotic literature was only available abroad, or brought into the U. S. in smuggled editions.

Once the censorship walls came down, inexpensive paperback editions of many outstanding erotic works of the past were published, to be eagerly snapped up by young people hungry for entertainment more compelling than the bland fare offered by traditional American publishers.

The drawback was that to get your hands on one of these works, you usually had to get them from what was then called an "Adult Bookstore," where the clientele and the ambiance often left much to be desired.

VENUS IN THE COUNTRY is an outstanding example of one of the Victorian erotic classics most Americans were barred from reading for close to a century. The first edition to be published for a sizable audience was issued in 1982 by Barney Rosset's pioneering Grove Press as a Black Cat Edition.

Having read it back in the 1980s and the new Kindle edition recently, I once again came away as impressed and amused as ever.

Let us go back into the soft and gorgeous past that VENUS IN THE COUNTRY celebrates, a time where women wore hoop skirts and bustles, and fashionable male attire required a Prince Albert piercing. First published in 1895 by Members of the Society of Priapus, the author is listed as Anonymous.

VENUS is a deeply kinky story about the sexual habits of the English upper class during the time of Queen Victoria's reign, focusing on a girl named Pamela, who frolics among her social betters with predictably arousing results. Along the way, we are treated to scenes of oral sex, anal sex, threesomes, birching, and consensual incest, while witnessing a kind of delicious hypocrisy that is unknown today.

The plot to VENUS is slight but the action is non-stop and the writing is superb. The usual stuffy wordiness of old-fashioned literature remains, and yet it works because the characters say and do such outrageous things.

Besides Pamela, we meet the Reverend Edmund and his spinster sister Agnes, who succumb to the most taboo of temptations in an episode that is as memorable as it is wicked:

"Oh, Edmund, let us be truly naughty. There is no one to see. Let me suck your cock before you put it in me." Edmund groaned, for no sooner had she uttered the astonishing words than Agnes slid down a little, while still keeping herself sufficiently curled for her brother to tease her slit. Feeling the warm grasp of his sister's lips about his tool, his back arched in ecstasy. "Suck! Suck my cock, Agnes!" Pushing her head down, he felt his weapon slide farther in. Agnes absorbed it and let it glide over her tongue.

There are many strong Femdom elements throughout the story, especially as Pamela, having gained the basic skills of a budding dominatrix in her previous assignments, finds herself employed in a new household full of young men and women of an extremely pliant and suggestive nature.

The novel ends with a climax that includes numerous other climaxes as well. Although the book may not work for every taste, it has many great features. Perhaps it's best appreciated after the reader has had one or two glasses of wine, to help blunt the inhibitions and free the imagination to enjoy a delightful antique romp among the idle dandies of yesteryear.

This is the kind of book one finds in Dad's sock drawer, or in the garage under a box of car parts.Compared to our modern morals, this is pretty outrageous behavior. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

I'd have to say this is my favorite erotic book ever.Most erotica takes itself far too seriously. Not so with "Venus." The silliness of some of the situations is played for laughs, without ever taking away from the red-hot action. The sex scenes (and there are a lot, of almost every variety)are very well described. Every one is happy, every one has a good time,and the book ends on a promising note. There's not a lot of plot, to be sure, but what there is is still fun.And that's what this book is all about: fun. Isn't that what sex is supposed to be about as well?

While the novel centers around Pamela, there seems to be a cascading cast of characters who parade in and out of the book, so if you are looking for plot (something I actually appreciate, even in erotica) you will be disappointed. But there are plenty of hot encounters, fairly well written. The usual warnings apply; incest and birching are a hefty part of the book.

At times what little plot there was got a little confusing. But then, who needs plot?